


over there (over here)

by Missy



Category: American Girls: Molly - Various Authors
Genre: Adulthood, Bittersweet, Character Study, Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 21:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5513963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Molly and Emily have grown up, and the intervening years between Emily's leaving America and their meeting in New York have changed them - a bit for the better, a bit for the worse.  But the bond between them remains strong, no matter how much time has passed..and how different they've become.</p>
            </blockquote>





	over there (over here)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyReisling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyReisling/gifts).



“Well,” Emily said, tipping the spout of her teapot toward Molly’s cup, “I don’t suppose we’ve got enough time to do a tour of the city?” 

“We have most of the day!” Molly enthused. “Why don’t we take a walk around Central Park, then take in a movie and then a show?” 

It was 1959, and Molly was in her third year of med school, one of five ‘lady docs’ in her program. It was hard, endless work – she knew it would be, her father warned her it would, and she does not complain about it. Still, Molly McIntire lived for two things as she prepared to take her final exam: weekly letters from Emily in the post and a biweekly night at the picture show. 

And her was one of her best friends in the flesh, sitting quietly and primly across from her, stuffed to the gills on teacakes. “I’m not sure I have the energy.” Emily sat back in her chair and plunked one more pale white petit four between her red lips. “How on earth do you stay so lively, dear? I’m about ready to fall asleep and all we did was walk about Times Square.”

Molly thought to herself that it was probably because she was still unmarried at the age of twenty four and Emily already had two children and a baby on the way. Molly had been as supportive as possible during the planning process – had flown overseas and was a bridesmaid at her friend’s nuptials several springs ago, to a very kind British fellow who ran his family’s candy store back home. From that day on Molly’s singleness became a matter of great controversy with the family back home. Linda and Susan were constantly trying to fix her up with fellas, and her mother often sent her clippings filled with dating strategies, to her frustration. Instead of unburdening her mind about that, Molly said, “it’s probably the flight. Jet lag gets the best of all of us.” Then, with a grin, “aren’t you glad you decided to come to America?”

The first time hadn’t been a choice for the girl – but everything afterward? Definitely. “Always,” Emily grinned. “Oh, always.”

%%%%%

New York in summertime was an entirely fresh experience for Molly. Life in her tiny hometown simply hadn’t prepared her for the wild bustle of it all, the glowing neon, the heart-pounding sight of so many people, so many lives, chockablock together but incongruously existing in their own private spheres. If Emily seemed less impressed Molly didn’t blame her; after all, Emily had grown up in London, in one of the biggest big cities in the world, and was part of the post-Blitz generation, working tirelessly to try and reestablish order and normalcy. Whatever, Molly thought to herself, normalcy was supposed to mean. They were walking hand-in-hand regardless, as if they feared losing hold of each other.

Emily pulled to a stop before a large department store window, and Molly stood there still beside her. There was a sunny summer dress on display, bright pink, with little blue flowers sprinkled over the bodice. It was the sort of dress a housewife would pull out for her garden party, a school recital dress; Molly imagined herself at a night club wearing it.

“Do you think Ed would like me in it?” Emily asked suddenly.

Molly squeezed her hand. “You don’t need to please him, you know. Buy it for you, if you want to buy it.”

Emily rested a hand on her hip, sized up the outfit. “Let’s go in and try it on.”

%%%%%

It fits Emily’s form like a dream, five months pregnant or not, and she twirled before the mirror, silly, happily alive, her eyes aglow like a torch fire. She smoothed out the silk skirt and gave Molly one last twirl for good measure.

“It doesn’t make my hips look big?” Emily asked.

“We promised we’d never ask each other questions like that,” Molly said.

“That was when I was twelve. God, it feels like a lifetime ago. You wanted to be an actress for awhile, remember?” 

“Or a doctor. I did for a very a long time, “ Molly agreed. “Then we did a human anatomy unit in biology and I understood why my dad was so into helping others.”

“You were always so idealistic,” Emily smiled. “I’m glad that never changed.”

It was if Emily saw something flawed, compromised, in her own system. It made Molly reach for her hand. “You could always go back and get a degree to teach math,” pointed out Molly.

“I think that time’s passed,” she admitted. “But I can hope for my daughter, can’t I?”

“Sure,” Molly said. “You definitely can.”

There was a hesitation. “One day,” Emily said, “You’ll have a child of your own.”

Molly didn’t think so – thought that she was built to be a doctor, that she was as happy and as hard-working as she had ever been in her life. Being so different from everyone around her was a new sensation – but being different from Emily, the person from whom she'd been such opposites with in the first place, then become quite similar to in her teen years, felt fresh, disconcerting.

But instead she watched Emily carefully fold the dress. “Yep. Someday.”

%%%%%

“It feels like I’m on top of the world,” Emily said. The two women were looking down on the streets below from the top of the Empire State Building’s observation deck. Emily’s eyes scanned the ground, watching the world bustle by from their vantage point. “Is it always so beautiful from this height?”

“I can’t say I’m sure,” Molly said. “This is the only time I’ve ever come here.”

“Really?” Emily raised an eyebrow. “Yanks sure are different from what I imagined, even all these years later.”

“We don’t spend all of our time in high rises sipping champagne in New York,” Molly said. “And we don’t spend as much time as you’d think riding in subways or rushing off to see a Yankees game,” she said. “No more than you Brits love tea and scones.”

Emily smiled. “We’ve gone right back to our old childhood taunts.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Molly admitted. 

“Let’s not let our differences spoil things,” Emily soothed. “Let’s just enjoy the day. It’s enough to be together, after everything we’ve been through.”

Molly agreed to that. As the world sped by under their feet, she continued to hope that things would be this way – that they’d always have their friendship, no matter how different they grew.

**Author's Note:**

> Happiest of holidays, hope you enjoyed your treat!


End file.
